Neo-strongLiberal Economicstrong Development, Competitiveness, and the.pdfVIP

Neo-Liberal Economic Development, Competitiveness, and the Growth of Mebyon Kernow in Cornish Politics Dr Joanie Willett John Rowe Lecturer in Politics PhD Candidate Environment and Sustainability Centre for the Environment and Institute Human Health University of Exeter University of Exeter J.M.A.Willett@Exeter.ac.uk John.Rowe@PCMD.ac.uk Abstract Nations without states, and their identities, have become very topical in the UK with the forthcoming Scottish vote on independence, raising questions about the role of identity within the nation state. This is of especial interest given that only a few years ago, the effects of economic and cultural globalisation were theorized as risking cultural homogeneity. Smith (1988) hypothesizes this kind of phenomena as being about the salience of national an d ethnic cultural identities, but whilst this paper is not going to debunk this claim, it is going to draw attention to the overlay between growing nationalism, and the economic liberalism adopted within European regional development – or the ‘New Regionalism’. Throughout this process regional competitiveness is fostered by individuating regions from each other – through branding and appeals to identity. The case of Cornwall illustrates this process. Although Cornish nationalism has been a factor in Cornish politics for many decades, it is only relatively recently that Cornish political nationalism has been treated as a credible (as opposed to an oppositional) alternative. Mebyon Kernow, the Cornish nationalist party is still only a small force amongst elected representatives, but its growth over the past 15 years has been very marked, and its ideas have been influential in Cornish politics. The paper will claim that the p